Translator: Denryuu; Editor: Ryunakama
With a groan, the grimacing doppelganger activated his skill and disappeared.
「…」
I might have been, quite literally, fighting myself.
He had mentioned that Lyla was in a room at the back, and there she was. Her expression paler than usual, she was asleep with her face on the chair she had presumably been sitting on.
「My head hurts…」, she muttered.
I had been planning to praise her for all she had done — sending a ‘Shadow’ to me and maintaining a conversation with the doppelganger in a way that hinted at his identity.
Never mind, I thought.
「Urghhh…」
「Oi, Lyla.」
I squatted to place myself within her field of vision, and her shoulders relaxed.
「It’s me. The one-armed me.」
「Oh, so it was you… what a ruckus.」
「Right.」
She refused my shoulder on the pretext that she felt unable to even stand, so I piggybacked her instead.
「Don’t shake… stay still…」
She was barely able to utter a sentence.
「Any idea who or what that was, Lyla?」
「Nope… we demons do have cloning magic, but the user has to cast it of his own volition. I doubt you’d do something like that.」
「I’ve never even heard of such magic before.」
「Yup, then I haven’t got a clue either.」
「He’s definitely behind the king’s assassination. Seeing that you had set foot within the kingdom, he abducted you in order to fight me.」
「…But where did he go?」
「I stabbed him in the chest with a broken bat and he disappeared.」
「So you show no mercy, even to yourself. Both physically and mentally.」
「Nonsense. I showed no mercy because it was myself. From the way he spoke, it was clear that he intended to replace me entirely. Which can only mean that the assassination itself was a trap laid out for us…」
「That’s a logical conclusion. But he could’ve just come knocking, couldn’t he?」
I had been thinking about that as well. If his plan had just been to kill me and take my place, there was no reason to have involved King Reubens.
「Any guesses, then?」, I asked.
「Umuu… to test his abilities, perhaps?」
「To see just how strong he is?」
「Assassinating a king isn’t easy, making King Reubens a natural target. He wanted to test the powers of the so-called legendary assassin. And then the legendary assassin himself showed up.」
「Well… I guess it’s good that I’m capable of such a thing. But this situation has blown up.」
「If word gets out…」
「I’ll be framed as the perpetrator that committed regicide.」
Killing the doppelganger in secret won’t do any good — I’ll have to capture him and present him to Elvi.
「Maybe you’ll have to come to my world」, said the Demon King cheerfully.
「If they learn that ‘I’ was the killer, yes.」
Capturing him won’t go as swimmingly as the earlier fight had. I treat him as an equal, and he’ll take our difference in agility into account this time. The same trick won’t work twice.
「Can you nab him?」
「I don’t know. But…」
Killing him would be easier than capturing him alive — I simply can’t afford to do the latter against an equally strong opponent. If I try, I’ll be the one that bites the dust.
「It’s not impossible」, I continued.
「Fufufu. I know what you’re thinking.」
It’s easy to read my thoughts.
「I don’t have any other choice.」
From behind, Lyla wrapped her arms around my neck.
「Lying low, travelling the world with you… a life like that doesn’t sound half bad.」
「Sounds okay to me too.」
「That house sounds interesting too.」
「Good to hear.」
「Do your best.」
「As you wish」, I quipped, to which she chuckled.
By the time we returned to Elvi’s residence, Lyla, who I had piggybacked the whole way, was feeling herself again.
「You had me worried, going off like that!」
As I had left without saying a word to her attendants, she had been looking all over for us.
「Sorry. It was an emergency.」
「An emergency?」
「Save the questions for later. Dinner first.」
Fine, said Elvi, accompanying us to the dining hall. After we dined, I invited her to the room in which we lodged and told her all that had happened.
「Rolands…? Two…? That’s crazy…」, exclaimed Elvi with narrowed eyes.
「It sounds preposterous, but it’s the truth. The way he looks, fights, thinks and uses his skill… it is me.」
「So this impostor — who is as strong as you are — is able to bypass my security and assassinate his Majesty…」
Placing her chin on her hand, she frowned.
「What will you do, Roland? If others come to know of this, it won’t matter if it was an impostor or not.」
「I know. That’s why I must get hold of that doppelganger, by hook or by crook. As his motive seems to be to replace me, he might show himself to me again or continue bumping off various kings to test himself.」
Lyla chuckled as if she had nothing to do with the whole affair.
「What a troublesome man」, she commented.
「If he chooses to assassinate more people, nobody can stop him… kuh! That’s a nuisance, all right!」
To someone entrusted with the security of a castle, there was no harder adversary.
「So. Do you have a plan, Roland? You might have thwarted him for now, but what next?」
「Fear not. I have an idea.」
「Hm?」
That’s Roland for you, said Lyla’s expression.
「I’ll be gone for a while」, I told Elvi, leaving without answering her further.
Lyla had no intention to follow, and appeared to be looking forward to having her questions answered eventually. Heading for a dark corner of the mansion, I opened a ‘Gate’ and blinked away.
Before long, I was underground and quickly approaching Warwick’s workshop.
「Warwick Ze’ev? Are you here?」
My voice echoed loudly across the cavern, causing the inventor’s caged monsters to shriek and howl. He’s probably preparing his next shipment, I thought. Writing incantations on it and everything.
「Aye. Roland-kun」, said the pale vampire, appearing from the back.
「I have come to require a right arm.」
Warwick grinned triumphantly.
「Despite all you said, you finally want one, eh?」
「Just this once. Once I’m done with it, it can disappear for all I care.」
「Hahaha」, cackled the vampire. 「Planned obsolescence isn’t in my dictionary.」
He gestured for me to follow him deeper into his workshop. He had fashioned a house out of a corner of the cavern, decorating it over the years with stacks upon stacks of books and countless crumpled balls of paper. I unfurled one to find a collection of incantation-worthy text, on top of which multiple diagonal lines had been drawn.
「In truth, I had already created one. Just in case you did come back.」
「Wonderful.」
「Men crave strength — that never changes.」
「…I thought I made it clear that I don’t seek greater strength.」
「I know, I know. T’was a joke. Please don’t take it seriously.」
Warwick lifted the object of interest from the table.
「I just love developing gadgets that can be attached to the body. And this is the design I settled on.」
It looked like a collar.
「It’s a bracelet」, explained Warwick. 「Wear it on what remains of your arm, and –」
「An arm will grow from it?」, I asked.
「Close, but no cigar yet! You need training to use it well.」
「Tell me what I need to know.」
Warwick nodded.
「By accessing the organs that control memory, it stores their generated magicka in a fixed form.」
「A little simpler, if you will.」
「It generates an arm of magic.」
「Huh…」
「Hey, you’re supposed to be impressed here…」
The vampire was, for some reason, more surprised than I was.
「Anyway」, he continued. 「You need excellent control over your own magicka. That’s what the training is for.」
I rolled my sleeve up and tightened the bracelet, ensuring that it was tight enough to stay attached even during vigorous movement. This is the brainchild of Warwick, I thought. The inventor that specialises in the damping and magnification of magicka.
「It’s not as simple as channeling magicka into it. You need to hit the sweet spot. Not too much and not too little — exactly as much as you need for an arm to function.」
It’s a more complicated version of what I do for Magic Regus, isn’t it?
「No harm giving it a go」, he said.
With the inventor’s encouragement, I channeled magicka into the bracelet. Just enough to function like an arm. Just enough…
「Eh, it’s difficult even for demons, let alone you humans.」
The bracelet glowed faintly before blue tendrils that resembled capillaries extended from it. A wrist formed, followed by an elbow to join the two ends, then a palm and finally five fingers.
「Huh…?」
Warwick could scarcely believe his eyes.
I guess you could call it an arm made of blue blood vessels. As it was fashioned entirely out of magicka, though, it was translucent.
「Huh」, I said.
I opened and closed my new fist a few times, watching it move exactly the way I wanted it to. Yet there were no muscles or bones whatsoever, making it feel weightless.
「I don’t believe it…」, muttered the inventor. 「Just… how?」
Translator: Denryuu; Editor: Ryunakama
With a groan, the grimacing doppelganger activated his skill and disappeared.
「…」
I might have been, quite literally, fighting myself.
He had mentioned that Lyla was in a room at the back, and there she was. Her expression paler than usual, she was asleep with her face on the chair she had presumably been sitting on.
「My head hurts…」, she muttered.
I had been planning to praise her for all she had done — sending a ‘Shadow’ to me and maintaining a conversation with the doppelganger in a way that hinted at his identity.
Never mind, I thought.
「Urghhh…」
「Oi, Lyla.」
I squatted to place myself within her field of vision, and her shoulders relaxed.
「It’s me. The one-armed me.」
「Oh, so it was you… what a ruckus.」
「Right.」
She refused my shoulder on the pretext that she felt unable to even stand, so I piggybacked her instead.
「Don’t shake… stay still…」
She was barely able to utter a sentence.
「Any idea who or what that was, Lyla?」
「Nope… we demons do have cloning magic, but the user has to cast it of his own volition. I doubt you’d do something like that.」
「I’ve never even heard of such magic before.」
「Yup, then I haven’t got a clue either.」
「He’s definitely behind the king’s assassination. Seeing that you had set foot within the kingdom, he abducted you in order to fight me.」
「…But where did he go?」
「I stabbed him in the chest with a broken bat and he disappeared.」
「So you show no mercy, even to yourself. Both physically and mentally.」
「Nonsense. I showed no mercy because it was myself. From the way he spoke, it was clear that he intended to replace me entirely. Which can only mean that the assassination itself was a trap laid out for us…」
「That’s a logical conclusion. But he could’ve just come knocking, couldn’t he?」
I had been thinking about that as well. If his plan had just been to kill me and take my place, there was no reason to have involved King Reubens.
「Any guesses, then?」, I asked.
「Umuu… to test his abilities, perhaps?」
「To see just how strong he is?」
「Assassinating a king isn’t easy, making King Reubens a natural target. He wanted to test the powers of the so-called legendary assassin. And then the legendary assassin himself showed up.」
「Well… I guess it’s good that I’m capable of such a thing. But this situation has blown up.」
「If word gets out…」
「I’ll be framed as the perpetrator that committed regicide.」
Killing the doppelganger in secret won’t do any good — I’ll have to capture him and present him to Elvi.
「Maybe you’ll have to come to my world」, said the Demon King cheerfully.
「If they learn that ‘I’ was the killer, yes.」
Capturing him won’t go as swimmingly as the earlier fight had. I treat him as an equal, and he’ll take our difference in agility into account this time. The same trick won’t work twice.
「Can you nab him?」
「I don’t know. But…」
Killing him would be easier than capturing him alive — I simply can’t afford to do the latter against an equally strong opponent. If I try, I’ll be the one that bites the dust.
「It’s not impossible」, I continued.
「Fufufu. I know what you’re thinking.」
It’s easy to read my thoughts.
「I don’t have any other choice.」
From behind, Lyla wrapped her arms around my neck.
「Lying low, travelling the world with you… a life like that doesn’t sound half bad.」
「Sounds okay to me too.」
「That house sounds interesting too.」
「Good to hear.」
「Do your best.」
「As you wish」, I quipped, to which she chuckled.
By the time we returned to Elvi’s residence, Lyla, who I had piggybacked the whole way, was feeling herself again.
「You had me worried, going off like that!」
As I had left without saying a word to her attendants, she had been looking all over for us.
「Sorry. It was an emergency.」
「An emergency?」
「Save the questions for later. Dinner first.」
Fine, said Elvi, accompanying us to the dining hall. After we dined, I invited her to the room in which we lodged and told her all that had happened.
「Rolands…? Two…? That’s crazy…」, exclaimed Elvi with narrowed eyes.
「It sounds preposterous, but it’s the truth. The way he looks, fights, thinks and uses his skill… it is me.」
「So this impostor — who is as strong as you are — is able to bypass my security and assassinate his Majesty…」
Placing her chin on her hand, she frowned.
「What will you do, Roland? If others come to know of this, it won’t matter if it was an impostor or not.」
「I know. That’s why I must get hold of that doppelganger, by hook or by crook. As his motive seems to be to replace me, he might show himself to me again or continue bumping off various kings to test himself.」
Lyla chuckled as if she had nothing to do with the whole affair.
「What a troublesome man」, she commented.
「If he chooses to assassinate more people, nobody can stop him… kuh! That’s a nuisance, all right!」
To someone entrusted with the security of a castle, there was no harder adversary.
「So. Do you have a plan, Roland? You might have thwarted him for now, but what next?」
「Fear not. I have an idea.」
「Hm?」
That’s Roland for you, said Lyla’s expression.
「I’ll be gone for a while」, I told Elvi, leaving without answering her further.
Lyla had no intention to follow, and appeared to be looking forward to having her questions answered eventually. Heading for a dark corner of the mansion, I opened a ‘Gate’ and blinked away.
Before long, I was underground and quickly approaching Warwick’s workshop.
「Warwick Ze’ev? Are you here?」
My voice echoed loudly across the cavern, causing the inventor’s caged monsters to shriek and howl. He’s probably preparing his next shipment, I thought. Writing incantations on it and everything.
「Aye. Roland-kun」, said the pale vampire, appearing from the back.
「I have come to require a right arm.」
Warwick grinned triumphantly.
「Despite all you said, you finally want one, eh?」
「Just this once. Once I’m done with it, it can disappear for all I care.」
「Hahaha」, cackled the vampire. 「Planned obsolescence isn’t in my dictionary.」
He gestured for me to follow him deeper into his workshop. He had fashioned a house out of a corner of the cavern, decorating it over the years with stacks upon stacks of books and countless crumpled balls of paper. I unfurled one to find a collection of incantation-worthy text, on top of which multiple diagonal lines had been drawn.
「In truth, I had already created one. Just in case you did come back.」
「Wonderful.」
「Men crave strength — that never changes.」
「…I thought I made it clear that I don’t seek greater strength.」
「I know, I know. T’was a joke. Please don’t take it seriously.」
Warwick lifted the object of interest from the table.
「I just love developing gadgets that can be attached to the body. And this is the design I settled on.」
It looked like a collar.
「It’s a bracelet」, explained Warwick. 「Wear it on what remains of your arm, and –」
「An arm will grow from it?」, I asked.
「Close, but no cigar yet! You need training to use it well.」
「Tell me what I need to know.」
Warwick nodded.
「By accessing the organs that control memory, it stores their generated magicka in a fixed form.」
「A little simpler, if you will.」
「It generates an arm of magic.」
「Huh…」
「Hey, you’re supposed to be impressed here…」
The vampire was, for some reason, more surprised than I was.
「Anyway」, he continued. 「You need excellent control over your own magicka. That’s what the training is for.」
I rolled my sleeve up and tightened the bracelet, ensuring that it was tight enough to stay attached even during vigorous movement. This is the brainchild of Warwick, I thought. The inventor that specialises in the damping and magnification of magicka.
「It’s not as simple as channeling magicka into it. You need to hit the sweet spot. Not too much and not too little — exactly as much as you need for an arm to function.」
It’s a more complicated version of what I do for Magic Regus, isn’t it?
「No harm giving it a go」, he said.
With the inventor’s encouragement, I channeled magicka into the bracelet. Just enough to function like an arm. Just enough…
「Eh, it’s difficult even for demons, let alone you humans.」
The bracelet glowed faintly before blue tendrils that resembled capillaries extended from it. A wrist formed, followed by an elbow to join the two ends, then a palm and finally five fingers.
「Huh…?」
Warwick could scarcely believe his eyes.
I guess you could call it an arm made of blue blood vessels. As it was fashioned entirely out of magicka, though, it was translucent.
「Huh」, I said.
I opened and closed my new fist a few times, watching it move exactly the way I wanted it to. Yet there were no muscles or bones whatsoever, making it feel weightless.
「I don’t believe it…」, muttered the inventor. 「Just… how?」
